The present invention relates to a retaining ring attaching device and a data storage device fabricating method.
There are various known data storage devices using various recording mediums, such as optical disks and magnetic tapes. A hard disk drive is used prevalently as a storage device for computers and is one of indispensable storage devices for current computer systems. Uses of the hard disk drive as removable storage devices for motion image storage/reproduction devices, car navigation systems and digital cameras are progressively increasing owing to the excellent characteristics of the hard disk drive.
Internal contamination of products using a hard disk, such as hard disk drives, with metal powder is extremely detrimental to those products. Accordingly, there is a tendency to avoid using retaining rings (hereinafter, referred to as “C ring(s)”) for assembling a hard disk drive because C rings come into sliding contact with metal members.
Reduction of the cost of the data storage device is an urgent need in recent years and demands a data storage device of simple construction capable of being assembled with reliability, and an assembling method of assembling the data storage device. The conventional hard disk drive is provided with a head stack assembly (hereinafter, abbreviated to “HSA”) fixedly mounted on a pivot. A slide screw fixing method has been used for fixedly mounting the HSA on the pivot. However, a fixing method that uses a C ring for fixing the HAS to the pivot is used to achieve cost reduction. FIG. 20 shows a HSA assembled by the fixing method using a C ring in a perspective view.
Referring to FIG. 20, a pivot 903 is fitted in a hole 902 formed in a HSA 901 such that the HSA 901 is seated on a flange 904 formed in the pivot 903. A wavy washer 905 is put on the HSA 901, and a C ring 906 is attached to the pivot 903 so as to retain the HSA 901 and the wavy washer 905 on the pivot 903. The HSA 901 is held between the flange 904 and the wavy washer 905 and is held fixedly on the pivot 903 by the resilience of the wavy washer 905. Generally, the C ring 906 is attached to the pivot 903 by a manual operation using a hand tool, such as a pair of pliers.
A C ring attaching device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open JP-A 10-138054 (Patent Document 1) inserts pins in small holes formed at the opposite ends of a C ring, moves the pins away from each other to expand the C ring, and fits the C ring in an annular groove formed in a shaft. This C ring attaching device is capable of forcibly reducing the diameter of the C ring if necessary in attaching the C ring to the shaft. A C ring attaching device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open JP-A 6-304823 (Patent Document 2) is capable of automatically attaching a C ring to a shaft. These two references mention nothing about the application of the C ring attaching devices to attaching a C ring to a shaft in assembling a hard disk drive.